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That was the order Luzerne County Judge Michael Vough gave to former Wyoming Valley Sanitary Authority Executive Director Fred DeSanto on Friday, saying it’s a shame the Little League field in Pittston Township still bears the felon’s name.

“What I find disturbing is the Little League in Pittston Township has your name on it,” Vough told DeSanto during his sentencing hearing Friday.

As part of DeSanto’s sentence on a theft charge, Vough ordered DeSanto to write a letter to the Little League within five days demanding his name be stripped off the field at his expense.

Vough on Friday ordered DeSanto to spend 12 months on house arrest followed by three years probation for illegally using sanitary authority employees to do work for a local Little League and recreation facility on sanitary authority time.

DeSanto, 64, pleaded guilty in February to a diversion of services theft charge.

“I would just like to say I’m sorry,” DeSanto told Vough. “I know it was wrong and it will never happen again.”

DeSanto was charged in September on allegations he ordered 22 employees of the sanitary authority to do work for the Pittston Township Little League and Pittston Township Recreation Association on company time between 2004 and 2012.

DeSanto had been a longtime administrator of the Pennsylvania Little League District 16/31 and a field in Pittston Township was named the “Fred DeSanto Little League Stadium.”

Vough told DeSanto his entire professional life was supported by the ratepayers of the sanitary authority and he didn’t think Luzerne County taxpayers should foot the bill for a jail stint for him. Additionally, the judge said DeSanto had a long history of good works in the community that needed to be weighed against his crime.

“It’s apparent you’ve done a lot of good, but you also have done a felony,” Vough said.

Vough sentenced DeSanto to four years in the county’s Intermediate Punishment Program. He’ll serve the first 12 months on house arrest, followed by three years probation.

DeSanto must also perform 300 hours of community service, Vough ruled.

Prosecutors previously said the time sanitary authority workers spent away from their jobs working at the Little League was worth about $30,000.

They also claimed DeSanto mailed an average of 165 pieces of Little League mail a year with the authority’s postage machine, costing $449.

DeSanto’s attorney Frank Nocito reminded Vough that DeSanto’s motivation for the crime was to help the Little League, not himself.

“It’s important to note that the services were not diverted to Mr. DeSanto’s personal benefit,” Nocito said. “There was some community benefit.”

Still, DeSanto recognizes the use of sanitary authority resources was wrong, Nocito said.

DeSanto abruptly quit his $116,084 post Aug. 27, 2012, just before authority officials were scheduled to interview him for an internal probe about the allegations.

At the time of DeSanto’s arrest, new Executive Director James Tomaine said the alleged thefts occurred because DeSanto claimed to have authorization to do things that he in fact did not.

“He was the executive director, and he made the orders and he made the decisions,” Tomaine said. “Orders were given to do certain things and obviously the people feared that they had to take care of them, had to do what they were told.”

bkalinowski@citizensvoice.com

570-821-2055, @cvbobkal

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